The car drew closer and closer.
Yuliel's expression grew increasingly tense.
Because he was beginning to realize that he wasn't only dealing with the sudden appearance of the vehicle—he also had to remain wary of the nearby guards who might complete their transformation at any moment.
This position had truly been a terrible choice.
The high beams were blinding in the darkness.
As the car cleared the final curve and aligned directly with him, Yuliel narrowed his eyes.
He couldn't see who was inside the vehicle.
But at this point, it didn't matter anymore.
The engine roared as the car accelerated straight toward him.
Aside from Ivan—and perhaps Ivan's accomplices—who else would launch an attack at him at this hour?
Yuliel lifted one leg and assumed a throwing stance.
The moment the car crossed into the three-hundred-meter range he had calculated—
he threw.
The chunk of asphalt wrapped around the tennis ball vanished the instant it left his hand.
Yet the car did not slow down at all.
It continued racing toward him.
Yuliel's gaze sharpened.
Had he misjudged?
Was Ivan not inside that car?
Or had Ivan somehow blocked the attack?
Impossible.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when a heavy thudding sound came from behind him.
Yuliel turned his head, ignoring the incoming car.
Behind him stood a dinosaur unlike any he had seen earlier.
It lowered its head, horns angled forward, preparing to charge.
A Triceratops.
Something was wrong.
Yuliel's thoughts raced, but he couldn't immediately identify what felt off.
Still, he prepared to dodge the oncoming vehicle.
But at that moment—
a whistling sound cut through the darkness.
A tennis ball entered his peripheral vision.
The marbles attached to it burst apart.
They brushed past Yuliel's side.
His heart sank.
In that instant, his entire left side vanished from both sensation and sight.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
But Yuliel reacted quickly.
The moment his left side disappeared, he retreated rapidly, trying to escape the Triceratops' charging path.
He had barely taken two steps when the impact came.
But it wasn't the sedan with the high beams racing toward him.
Instead—
in the view of his remaining right eye—
an ambulance suddenly appeared.
BOOM!
Yuliel slammed into the charging Triceratops.
Even though he could only feel the right half of his body, the collision sent violent shockwaves through his internal organs.
His head spun.
But through his right eye, he locked onto Ivan inside the ambulance's driver's seat.
Yet what truly caught his attention was Ivan's strange posture.
Small dinosaurs clung to Ivan's shoulders and head.
Ivan himself had pushed the seat forward until his chest nearly pressed against the steering wheel.
His face was almost touching the windshield.
The pose looked bizarre.
But Yuliel's pupils shrank.
Because he instantly understood why Ivan was doing this.
To increase the attack distance.
Ivan's first thought had been to find more guards.
Then he remembered the guards still gathered near the morgue building.
They would work just as well.
They were the key to breaking Yuliel's Ken.
Ivan's Scary Monsters ability didn't only transform victims into Velociraptors or Compsognathus.
As long as Ivan could imagine the species, he could transform infected targets into any type of dinosaur.
He didn't know whether it was due to the Saint's Corpse or something else.
But his Scary Monsters possessed not only the full abilities used by Dr. Ferdinand, but also every ability wielded by Diego, the leader dinosaur.
The dinosaurs he created could infect others.
He himself could transform into a dinosaur.
He could even maintain a partial dinosaur form.
And the dinosaurs he produced could be any species he desired.
Which meant the place where Yuliel retrieved the earpiece was, in Ivan's eyes, the perfect battlefield.
At first, Ivan had considered simply running Yuliel over with a car.
But that wouldn't break Yuliel's defense.
Worse, while approaching, Ivan would become an easy target for Yuliel's attacks.
And the closer he got, the stronger those attacks would become.
So Ivan needed bait.
Something that would force Yuliel to launch an attack.
If Yuliel attacked, Ivan would gain five seconds.
That was the interval Ivan had calculated between Yuliel's throws.
Five seconds.
That window would be enough for Ivan to launch a decisive strike.
As for breaking Yuliel's defense after the collision—
that depended on the dinosaur type created from the infected guard.
A herbivorous dinosaur—Triceratops—was the perfect wall.
If Ivan rammed Yuliel toward the Triceratops' horns, the combined force from both sides would almost certainly break Yuliel's defense.
By the time Ivan reached the parking lot, several Compsognathus had gathered beside him.
They had two tasks.
First—drive the car.
Second—protect Ivan.
Having dinosaurs drive a car was an experiment.
But with proper coordination, Ivan believed it was possible.
He didn't need them to drive skillfully.
He only needed them to drive straight toward Yuliel as fast as possible.
So he assigned the roles:
One Compsognathus handled the steering wheel, keeping the car aligned with the road.
Another repeatedly pressed the clutch and accelerator, building speed.
The third was responsible for changing gears.
After several attempts, the car finally began moving smoothly.
Ivan smiled in satisfaction.
Controlling the small dinosaurs had proven easier than he expected.
As long as he gave simple mechanical commands, they executed them perfectly.
Meanwhile, Ivan had already noticed the ambulance parked outside the emergency ward.
Hospitals always kept ambulances ready—even at night.
A driver had been hiding inside the vehicle.
While the sedan sped along the road toward Yuliel, Ivan cut the driver, seized the ambulance, started the engine without turning on the lights, and followed the sedan.
He adjusted the seat position.
His chest—and especially his heart—was almost pressed against the steering wheel.
Behind him, pressed against the back of the seat near his spine and the back of his head, a Velociraptor crouched tightly inside the cabin.
Two Compsognathus clung near his shoulders and cheeks.
Another perched on top of his head.
Even the outside windshield had a Compsognathus pressed against it.
The position was extremely uncomfortable.
But it was the best defensive method Ivan had devised.
Everything hinged on one detail.
Although Yuliel's attacks appeared out of thin air, they always materialized ten centimeters away from Ivan's body.
So what if something else occupied that ten-centimeter space?
In that case, the attack would only have two options.
Either its location would shift from random to nearly fixed—
or it would appear ten centimeters beyond the obstacle.
If the first scenario occurred, Ivan only needed to protect his vital organs to avoid fatal damage.
If the second happened, the dinosaurs would act as living shields.
And the weakened attacks that reached Ivan afterward would no longer pose a serious threat.
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